Colombia suspends intelligence sharing with US over strikes in Caribbean
Iran Press TV
Wednesday, 12 November 2025 10:45 AM
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has ordered the country's security forces to halt intelligence cooperation with the United States in protest against American missile strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean, which have killed dozens of civilians.
Petro announced the suspension on Tuesday via the social media platform X, declaring that the move will remain in place "as long as missile attacks on boats in the Caribbean continue."
He emphasized that "the fight against drugs must be subordinated to the human rights of the Caribbean people."
The decision follows reports that US forces under President Donald Trump's administration have carried out a series of deadly strikes against boats suspected of drug trafficking in the Caribbean Sea.
Over the past month, the United States has resorted to a significant naval buildup in the Latin American waters amid heightened rhetoric targeting democratically-elected political establishments in Venezuela and Colombia.
According to CNN, the United Kingdom has also suspended its intelligence sharing with Washington over concerns that shared information was being used for lethal operations violating international law.
The strikes are believed to have killed at least 75 people since September.
Petro has condemned the attacks as "extrajudicial killings," calling for an international investigation and slamming Trump for committing war crimes.
On Sunday, during a Latin America-EU summit in Bogotá, Petro met with the family of a Colombian fisherman allegedly killed in one of the US strikes.
"He may have been carrying fish, or he may have been carrying cocaine, but he had not been sentenced to death," Petro said.
Relations between Bogotá and Washington have sharply deteriorated in recent months. The Trump administration has accused Petro of being soft on drug traffickers.
In September, Petro's US visa was revoked after he joined protests in New York denouncing Israel's genocide in Gaza and urging US soldiers to "disobey Trump's orders."
More recently, the US Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on Petro, his family and the South American country's interior minister, Armando Benedetti.
The latest escalation came as the US aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford arrived in the Caribbean with 4,000 sailors and several tactical aircraft, prompting speculation of an expanded American military campaign in the region.
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